NaNoWriMo 2015 {Week 2}

Which means I’ve gotten to the part of my outline where I’m like, “Meh, I don’t want to write that scene.”

Which is hard for me because I write in chronological order. I make outlines and lists that I follow. I need to know what happens in the scene before to move on to the next scene. My brain doesn’t work out of order.

But you know what? I’ve been skipping scenes and moving on.

That is a Big Deal for me. At first, I really wrestled with the decision not to write the scene. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “I have to write a fun, flirty, but not sexy date scene.”

Me: “What would that date even be? Roller skating? Bowling? Blergh.”

Me: “What if i just don’t write it?”

Me: “THAT IS CRAZY TALK, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Me: “Maybe I just . . . skip it and come back to it later?”

Me: “Yeah, okay, I see your point. BUT YOU WILL REGRET THIS WHEN IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.”

Me: “Possibly, but right now I don’t care. MOVING ON.”

So, yeah! I skipped a scene!

And, you know what? My manuscript hasn’t fallen apart yet! But the writing definitely isn’t going as smoothly as it was last week. Part of this is that I’ve been copy/pasting some scenes that existed in an earlier draft of this WIP and it is taking every ounce of self-control I have not to go in and edit those scenes yet. I just keep thinking about them. But I’m refusing to go back and work on them. Not until this draft is finished.

Another part of it is that sometimes writing is just hard. So I need to buck up, get words on paper (errrr, digital paper that exists in my computer), and get the damn draft done.

Happy writing, Wrimos!

If you’d like to read some more writing advice, check out last year’s week two post, which is all about secondary characters and has some really fun gifs, here.